NOTES AND COMMENTS December 12, 1918

If a civil war results in Germany and the opposing forces treat each other as they treated their prisoners of war and the women and children in the countries they overran, they will be getting nothing more than justice and the punishment they inflict will be far greater than that to be meted out by the allied nations.

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Canada's war expenditure up to November 30 last is estimated at one billion and sixty-eight million dollars, and to this amount will be added before everything is settled some four hundred millions more.  The pension list is estimated at thirty million dollars per year.  The bill should be sent to Germany. 

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The only hope Germany appeared to have that the demands of the Allies might be made less severe was in President Wilson, and that is a forlorn one, as Washington has sent notes to Berlin and Austria that the United States desires to receive no further communications from them which should properly be addressed to the allied nations. 

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Germany must be pretty short of airships.  By the terms of the armistice two thousand planes were to be surrendered to the victors and the full complement will soon be in the Allies' possession.  British statements show the number of enemy machines destroyed between January 1, 1918 and the date of the Armistice, November 11, to have been 3,060, while an additional 1,174 were brought down out of control.  However, Germany has not much use for airships just now. 

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Conditions in Germany, are at present in a chaotic stated, and are daily growing worse.  There is little doubt that eventually it will become necessary for Allied forces to occupy Berlin, and much as the Germans hate the British such a course might be welcomed by them.  Soldiers and sailors, fully armed, make demonstrations and demands, and riots are frequent and at times serious.  So far, however, the Government forces have had the best of the argument.  Unless the Allies take command and enforce order Berlin bids fair to become a second Petrograd.

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When Germany unsheathed her sword in 1914 no appeals from Belgium or Britain were listened to for a moment.  When she had Nurse Cavell and Capt. Fryatt in her power she showed no mercy.  When her iron hand gripped the hapless cities of France and Belgium her heart was as hard as a stone.  When she had to deal with helpless British prisoners she felt now compassion and showed no mercy.  When a word from her would have saved the lives of a million Armenians that word remained unspoken.  And in the whole of Germany there was neither man nor woman, neither layman nor minister, to offer one plea for mercy.  But now, when the sufferers are Germans, it is another cry; and from great Germany come more pitiful whines than ever came from Belgium, or Serbia, or Armenia.  Now, "in the name of Christianity," Prof.Deissemann, of Berlin, implores Britain to be merciful in the coming peace conference  he need not worry; the Allies are not Germans.  But for the murderers of Edith Cavell and Capt. Fryatt, and for the men who were responsible for all the nameless horrors which have sustained indelibly the German name, there should be stern justice.  To allow murder, and rape, and hideous butchery to go unpunished is not mercy - it is itself a crime. - Christian Guardian. 

   

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The action of the United States in setting apart a day to pay nation-wide tribute to Great Britain is one of the  finest and best things that has come out of the war.  In practically every city and town monstrous parades and ceremonies took place and leading public men and newspapers gave earnest expression of appreciation and admiration of the achievements of their brethren across the seas.  The celebration of "Britain Day" is an event absolutely new and unique to the history of America, and as Britain feels just as kindly toward the U.S., it indicates a new and enduring British-American Entente, which means safety to the world.  

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Published in the Aylmer Express Newspaper on December 12, 1918

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